Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox. Thank you Graydon House for inviting me to participate.
Publisher: Graydon House
Published: February 1, 2022
Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher
Summary:
Two women. A history of witchcraft. And a deep-rooted female power that sings across the centuries.
Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do New England family who never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her kin.
Called instead to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding her family’s estate, Margaret Harlowe grew both stranger and more beautiful as she cultivated her uncanny power. Soon, whispers of “witch” dogged her footsteps, and Margaret’s power began to wind itself with the tendrils of something darker.
One hundred and fifty years later, Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family that has been turned into a small museum in Tynemouth, Massachusetts. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore.
But as she digs deeper, something sinister unfurls from its sleep, a dark power that binds one woman to the other across lines of blood and time. If Augusta can’t resist its allure, everything she knows and loves—including her very life—could be lost forever.
My thoughts:
This is the second book I’ve read by Hester Fox and I cannot believe I haven’t read her other books yet. I just love how atmospheric they are with just the right amount of gothic vibes thrown in and this latest one was no exception!
I love a good witchy story and this one had all that and more. Ever since reading those Ruth Chew books when I was a kid (totally showing my age here!) and then visiting Salem, Massachusetts, I fell in love with witch stories and Hester Fox brings us such an engaging one that kept me glued to the pages from the start.
Give me strong women and a good dual narrative and I’m all in. This one moves back and forth from the present to the past, one hundred and fifty years earlier, and while I often find that I am drawn to one timeline over the other, that was definitely not the case here. I was equally invested in both and found that I wanted to be with both characters equally. I loved that both characters, Augusta in the present and Margaret in the past, had such distinct voices. And I also loved the parallels between the two characters, how neither really felt they fit in where they were in their current situations.
This one has touches of paranormal that are expected when you pick up a book dealing with witches and while I don’t usually like that element, here it works so well. It adds to the overall tension and atmosphere of the book, and I actually found myself holding my breath a few times, not sure where things were headed when those elements were in play. The way these two stories intersected and came together took me by surprise and I loved that. I had my suspicions and while I was partly correct, the way it did was better than I could have imagined.
I loved the setting of this book and how it really comes alive throughout this book. The Harlowe House itself was almost a character and I just love when an author is able to do that. This book has left me wanting to go take a trip back up to Salem in the worst way and that is always such a good sign. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good atmospheric read with gothic vibes…you won’t be disappointed!
About the author:
Hester Fox is a full-time writer and mother, with a background in museum work and historical archaeology. A native New-Englander, she now lives in rural Virginia with her husband and their son.
Authors Links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
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